F350Platinum

Here is a photo of what I think may be a sword. It was jammed into the ground and what looks like the scabbard had snapped. Hilt is missing. What holds it together is probably the sword blade inside.

I did quite a bit of searching last night but could not find a scabbard with a "nut" attached.

16 minutes ago, kac said:

It could be a clad dime where only the copper is left. Found a what looked like a dime once and was paper thin. Was near a pond that was brackish that fed to the beach.

This one has a bit of a bronze or brass look to it.

Kinda sad because some very famous "Boys" just north of me find all kinds of coppers from the 16-1700s in the rivers. I have found one so far but in the field up top, it was a "smooth" coin with barely any features.

The river is 80 feet below me. I think the prognosis for finding anything but silver and gold in good shape is poor. As the weather warms up I'll be looking! This Sunday the tide should be much lower but we are looking at a second ice storm.

20 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Was the wheat penny (which looks to be in decent shape, at least relatively speaking) in a different environment?

Yes, about 50 feet up the hill. The ground there is really soft with a lot of sand under the topsoil. Despite the roots from the high brush that grows there every year (it has been vacant since the Steamboat landing buildings were removed) a good root shovel like my Predator Barracuda goes through it easily.

I've found a few of those "potato peeler" looking things now, this was the fourth. I'm putting everything in a separate display case because the owners asked me to show them what I find, but said I can keep it all. I may have found a short sword in the scabbard with no hilt yesterday but have yet to verify.

Here's an update. It got up to 50 today, the sun finally came out. The water was 42 degrees, the tide wasn't low enough to go out far. Found this heavily corroded Indian Head penny (no date), and in the other picture there is an additional coin that is nearly gone. On the bright side I dug all the other stuff, a 1920 wheat penny, and a lot of odd things with lettering. The pocket watch is an Ingersoll "Yankee" 'dollar watch' circa 1935-40, there is a bolt marked A.H.T. Co. PHILADA (Arthur H Thomas, a company that makes scientific devices) a washer that says C.A.W. KIRK PATENT JULY 17 1850. The large decorated object is some sort of pin, it has a clasp on the back. Pretty much nothing but 19th and 20th century stuff comes out of this area.

Who would patent a washer? Must serve some other purpose. 🤔

The button looks like a Tombac.

One of the buckles definitely says "New York" on it, but the rest is hard to read backwards.

Nice relics and coin - heck the button would have made my day! 😀

3 hours ago, IdahoPeg said:

Wow, perfect timing for lots of great ideas for me! I need to build a sifter to use fossil and shark tooth hunting in the Peace River on the west side of Florida. Hope to find a Meg tooth(a Bucket Lister)😊

Got $30? the original Matlock sifter https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0749P51QM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

is intended for that very purpose. It's 15x15" total, with 11x11" sifter space. Extremely light and comes with the rope and carabiner. If you're not going to wave a detector or pinpointer over it, the galvanized 1/4" mesh wouldn't be a problem. If you are going to use it for metal detecting, you'd have to do something similar to what I did. ☺ If ya don't like blue it comes in a bunch of colors. Shoulda got red for the Equinox but that's not one of them. 😉 I got 3mm Ballistic nylon for the strength and tiny holes. Don't want to keep detecting those .22 shells!

64.5 cents. 😀 Found an 1809 half cent. This doesn't count the cut pistareens.

2 hours ago, Tom_in_CA said:

And how that got to a fresh-water still-water-spot, I dunno.  😳

It's a brackish (somewhat salty) tidal river that runs into the Potomac. I'm waiting for the tides to come around to morning to hit it again. Only had a half hour to high tide last time, water is in the low 40s. Thanks for weighing in! 

I bought one of the $21 Matlock sifters on Amazon, and turned that concept into a better one. Got some 3mm ballistic nylon mesh and replaced the galvanized 1/4" screen with it. Totally undetectable.

The verdict is in. Took it to a jewelry store. They put it on their fancy Gold-O-Meter, and it barely moved the needle in the below 10kt range. 3 people tried everything they could to get a reading. They were as mystified as I am, but agreed that it should weigh a LOT more than my half real at the similar thickness if it was gold. It should be tarnished! Has any river hunter here found a bright penny or clad in a river, let alone a brackish one? So that part of it is still strange, but the coin is not gold.

No gold club for me yet, but hold my beer... 😀

Another test:

The silver Half Real I found last week is .0395, only slightly thicker (.0385) and it weighs .04 ounce vs. .03. It is nearly the same size. Copper density is 8.96g per cubic centimeter, and silver is 10.49. Gold is 19.32g/cc, it would weigh almost twice as much.  It's copper. 

5 minutes ago, oneguy said:

My bet is gold coin that's been thru a fire.....

And therein lies the oddity.

I got together a 1916 copper wheat penny, a modern dime, the "coin", and my 3 ounce 14k white gold wedding ring.  I ID'd them all:

Wheat penny was a solid 20, dime a solid 25, my wedding ring a 15, and this "coin" came in at 14/15. 🤔 

I guess only an assay will tell for sure.

Ok some specs:

It's almost exactly the same size as a dime, It's about 0.0385 thick, it weighs 1 gram or .03 ounce. It rings when dropped on a table.

I'm saying if it quacks like a duck it's probably the copper core of a modern dime. What keeps it so shiny is still a mystery, could be that it's kept polished by the sand.

I'll have it tested, but it's probably copper.

Had to leave something behind that ID'd at 25 behind when the tide came in, it was under a large piece of piling on its side. I didn't want to pry the log up with my sand scoop.

Went out in the field afterwards and had a good day there, musket ball, old dog tag, 5 buttons. One button is silverplated, 3 tombac, and one that says "Double plated London" on the back. We're looking at a bad week ahead so I made the most of it.

31 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Salt water shouldn't lead to that kind of damage.

That's what I was thinking. From my boating days, Brackish water = bad. We lost zincs up in most of these waters in two years or less if the boat stayed in. I totally agree that this may not be gold, but at 14/15, and as sparkly as it is, I wonder if farm runoff may have something to do with it? Bronze buttons found in land come up with major bronze disease, I've never found any brass that looked this good out of water or land. Kinda bums me a bit to think of what would happen to copper and silver in the water here if this is gold 🤔 I'll try to get it assayed or figure out some kind of home test.

13 minutes ago, Hardtimehermit said:

Looks like it could be, do you have a digital scale ? Knowing how much it weighs would help with identification. Cool find and good hunting there Mr. 😁👍   

Yes I do. Out in the field right now, tide came in fast. Gotta get me some stuff to do scratch tests, and figure out how to do specific gravity I suppose.

Water here is brackish, I'd be surprised if any metal came out undamaged.  Not a lot of rocks but a ton of oyster shells at low tide.

Would gold get eaten away by these conditions? The river bottom is mostly sand and blue marl. Not many rocks.

Decided to visit the river this morning, over the weekend I got permission to search the steamboat landing near my house. It was my 61st birthday Sunday, and the permission came in the morning. My wife got me a Predator Barracuda shovel! What a day. Of course it rained all Sunday.

Just threw some high insulated boots on, it's cold out but not freezing, about 40. Not five minutes in the water and I got a solid 14/15 with the Equinox in Beach 2, all metal. Tried out my CooB sand scoop, and the result is this about 1/2 inch paper thin round object, this is exactly how it came out of the water.

I bought a CooB  Shark V10 scoop, and added a PVC pipe with a solid Bamboo dowel inside. Put a Raptor pull handle on it. I've seen others use these for river hunting, which is what I plan to do in the spring, maybe sooner. I'm hoping it's strong enough for the silty muck in the river near my house. I also got a floating strainer to dump what I've scooped in. The CooB is 2mm stainless, and big enough for a beginner 😀 I imagine you could put many different handles on it for different uses, this is pretty much a river rig.

23 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Can you post a pic? Here's one I found online

Yes, sorry, realized I should have done that. 🙂 It's not in very good shape.

Dug  a US Cartridge Climax no. 16 today, they were made from 1864 to 1921. Definitely an oldie! Especially liked the screw thread look to the brass. No shell, they were paper. I don't pay much attention to them, but if anyone collects them I could send it. Also dug a live 30-30 winchester shell. Hope there's no real danger to that.

34 minutes ago, rvpopeye said:

Maybe someone burned a pile of old furniture there , , if you find a lot of nails too the furniture was in a house or barn...LOL

The rectanglular real hole could have been made with a square nail ?

 

Excellent thoughts! If I was to wear my tinfoil hat, my speculation would be that a long time ago (all these nails and tacks are OLD) someone sold the farmers a bill of goods that scattering the tacks and nails would leach iron into the soil. Only two houses have been demolished, nowhere near where I find the nails and tacks. They are everywhere, sometimes in 'bands' across the farm.

I know where all the buckshot and bullets come from, they outlawed rifle/pistol a while back here but before that all bets were off. I've found .30, .40, and. 45 bullets. Lots of deer every day and night. I find .22 shells and bullets on the edges of the field where they hunt rabbits. I've found a live round or two! Also shotgun shells and a few percussion caps.

2 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Are those upholstery tacks?  

Yes, they range in size from 1/2 inch to maybe 1/4, some smaller. There are thousands of them in the field, the one pictured came in at 13/14, many are 7/8. I can usually tell I've found one when there is an iron tone, they have iron pins, and often they give a 3 tone sound like 13/14/15. I did them anyway because buttons also fall in this range, tombacs in the 5-8. I found a concave tombac today that was a 4.

The worst trait of the nails is when they are curved, I think the Equinox is set up to enhance 'round' things. A circular piece of junk threw a solid 26 at me today. I agree it's great training, so was the old house spot where there was a lot of tin and steel.

Here's today's stuff for those interested, another concave Tombac, one of those crazy ferrous buttons making #3 so far, my first pewter buckle piece, and another brass plate. It's always a good day to find silver, the little medallion is copper with heavy silverplate. It appears to say NC in the center!

It's going to snow tonight, it was 55 today. Thankfully it doesn't stay around too long but I have a list of home projects to get done anyway. 🙂

2 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

It sounds like you have access to this spot anytime you want, which is a big plus.  And being able to learn the nuances of your detectors and their settings -- you can't ask for a better site.  (Well, you could, but that would be greedy.  😉)

Hey GB, thanks for the advice. 

I do have "all access", and the farmer said I can keep all I find. Could not have been more lucky! The ground is like butter here, very few rocks. Mostly thin topsoil, Blue Marl, clay and sand. It's been farmed for almost 300 years. I'm out here right now taking a break. This site is huge, about 180 acres in front of my house, and over 200 more up the road. So far (since November) I've searched about 50.

Pictured below is my typical find when I get tones in the 12 - 16 (sometimes as high as 20) with iron on the cross sweep. I've been whining about these tacks, I just dug that and the old nail  to illustrate the point. Here I rarely ever get anything over 23, even the Spanish Reales are a solid 18. 😀 I think I'd have to wash my pants if I ever see a signal above 30! The only time I ever saw one was with some steel in the site across the road, a 19th century site. The house is gone now, they pushed it in the woods about 15 years ago.

Yesterday what I thought was a tack turned out to be a button! 😀 I will keep your advice in mind.

21 minutes ago, Badger-NH said:

I'd rather use my ears than let the detector decide what to dig.

 

Totally agree 🙂 I got a few falses with some iron, but a quick 45 or 90 degree turn showed it up. I was reluctant to change any settings from Field 2. This is only helping a little. I appreciate all advice I get.

Again I hope y'all will pardon my enthusiasm, I'm grateful the ground hasn't frozen and I can still get out. Gotta get as much out of this as I can before spring.

Day 2 of F2. Didn't dig a single piece of iron! There is quite a lot of it in the field, some places littered with nails, and lots of broken farm equipment parts.

Today's haul is interesting, 4 buttons, one of which was silver plated and two are decorated, what I think is a rein guide boss, and what might be a tuning key from an instrument. Also some kind of weight notched for string or wire, and a drawer pull back plate. As usual I also found an interesting piece of buckle. This field just keeps on giving up old relics. I wish I would find more coins, but after searching about 40 acres so far, buttons make my day. 🙂

26 minutes ago, Badger-NH said:

F2/2 is basically the same as FE/0.

I should have mentioned that I have a 600, so F2/2 is the equivalent of F2/4 on the 800. 

Rained lightly last night and today is going to be sunny and warm for February. I'm going to see if I can get more fiddling in, switch F2/FE modes when I find an iron target to see what it does. I doubt I'll find anything different than already belabored on this forum, but it was great to try something instead of running it vanilla. That's what I'm here for! 🙂 Just got curious because of the surveys.